With the rampant proliferation of fictitious stories that are presented as legitimate news, new methods of sorting out real information from faux news stories has become increasingly important, especially as the real-world implications of the manipulation of information on social media are becoming drastically more apparent.read more
In a few months, the orbit of a star deep in the core of the Milky Way will cause it to pass within 18.4 billion kilometers (11.4 billion miles) of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, Sagittarius A*. This event is of particular interest to physicists, as the plummeting star, S0-2, will speed up to 3 percent of the speed of light as it slingshots around its supermassive parent–a prime opportunity to test Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity.
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An archaeological expedition aimed at plumbing the secrets of Chichen Itza’s underworld of the gods has uncovered the well-preserved remains of ancient humans and extinct animals that date back to the last ice age–far more than what the expedition’s members bargained for when they set out to map and explore the sacred network of Mayan caves. The nature of some of the fossils found there also hinted at the occurrence of a "catastrophic event" that embedded some of the bones in the walls of the cave.
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Last month’s split in the Polar Vortex caused two distinct sections of the typically-persistent low-pressure zone to push south; one into western North America, and the other into northern Siberia. In North America, this resulted in a massive cold snap on the west coast, while the east experienced above-average temperatures.read more